Darwin's Children is the sequel to Darwin's Radio, written by Greg Bear in 2000. I thought that was an interesting book so when I came across this sequel, I decided it might be a good buy - couldn't be any worse than the last one. Unfortunately, it is so full of technobabble that I was lost almost from the very beginning. I did remember the central characters Mitch Rafelson and his wife Kaye Lang. And I recalled that they had a daughter Stella, who was a carrier of the SHEVA virus, the one discovered in the first book. Beyond that, there wasn't much to tell. Seems that there were thousands of these children born after the virus was released and the prevailing reaction was that since these children were different, they needed to be hunted down and contained. That seems to be the crux of this book - the way these children are treated, shunned, captured and held. Having been in hiding for over 10 years, Mitch and Kaye have kept themselves and Stella isolated until time runs out and they are all captured. Stella is sent off to a camp/school. Mitch ends up in jail and Kaye goes to work at a bigh pharma-tech company doing research on the virus. Thats about all there is to this story as we read about how they all are treated, fend for themselves, learn a bit of the truth and alot of lies, and eventually supposedly live happily ever after. Guess you could say that I was disappointed in the whole thing and doubt that I would re-read it. That is so unlike any of Bear's other books in my library - most I have read and re-read many times. Oh well, he can't hit a home run every time.
Title: Darwin's Children |
9/12/04
